Judith Brett

On the campaign trail with Maxine McKew

Received wisdom among election watchers holds that the Australian electorate does not throw out governments when the economy is doing well. When governments changed in 1972, 1983 and 1996, the economy was just coming out of or heading into troubled waters, …

The knack of successful political leadership in parliamentary democracies is to balance the politics of unity with those of division, to put yourself forward as the representative and protector of the nation as a whole while using every trick in the book …

“There is a tide in the affairs of men / Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” But tides also recede. The big question for observers early in this election year is: Has the tide finally turned? Still running John Howard's way are …